The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on the Associated Journals Ltd’s (AJL) plea challenging the Central government’s October 30 direction asking it to vacate the Herald House. Justice Sunil Gaur extended the High Court’s interim direction to maintain status quo till his further orders. The court has also observed that AJL is publishing a newspaper now and sought clarification from Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta why has the government issued notice for getting the premise vacated. Mehta told the court that AJL has violated the lease agreement and revived National Herald only after the Centre sent a notice for inspection of the property in September 2016. The court was hearing AJL plea alleging that the Centre was “illegally, unconstitutionally, arbitrarily and in a deliberate attempt” trying “to suppress and destroy the legacy of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru”. The Central government has, however, refuted the claim. Mehta told the court that the notice was not politically motivated nor issued with malafide intention. Mehta told the court that a weekly newspaper is published from Noida, not from Herald House and also questioned the sale of AJL to Young Indian. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi countered the allegations and said that it was a popular practice by media houses to print the newspaper from some other place citing example of some major newspapers which are also printing newspaper from other places. The Urban Development Ministry had said the Herald House’s 56-year-old lease to AJL had ended and asked the AJL to vacate the premises by November 15. (IANS)